Remembering the Circassian Deportations and Massacres

Number 268 | May 21, 2015

For over a century, from 1763 onwards, the peoples of Circassian lands situated in the northwestern Caucasus defended their homelands against Russian expansion.

The Circassian people, who by and large adopted Islam in the eighteenth century, were almost entirely affected by the terrible destruction of their communities and the forced displacement from their historic homeland during the last decades of the Tsarist regime. Russian General Yevdokimov was tasked to execute this policy of forced displacement as of 1860 with newly formed mobile columns of riflemen and Cossack cavalry.

The final defeat of the Circassians by Tsarist soldiers on May 21, 1864 led to the exile and massacre of what is estimated to be no fewer than one million and possibly close to one-and-a-half million Circassians. This tragedy is widely regarded as the worst instance of ethnic cleansing of the nineteenth century. The northwestern region of the Caucasus, known as Circassia, was almost completely emptied of its indigenous population. Those who survived the brutalities fled over land and across the Black Sea and found refuge in Ottoman territory.

Today, Turkey is home to the descendants of this exodus, just like it is home to so many millions of others who were forcibly displaced from the Balkans and Caucasus as the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

On May 21, the 151st anniversary of this grave tragedy is commemorated by Circassians in Turkey, the United States and across the world. Earlier in the week, Circassians in Turkey already began marking the anniversary with commemorations throughout the country.

For more information of the forced migration and mortality of Ottoman Muslims and others, please visit here.